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Talk:Shakespearean Echo Chamber/@comment-24983426-20140624233335
Personally, I'm captivated by Ophelia's complex character and role within Hamlet. In Act 3, Scene 1, after Hamlet demands that Ophelia go to a nunnery, Ophelia delivers a short monologue… “O, what a noble mind is here o'erthrown! The courtier's, soldier's, scholar's, eye, tongue, sword; The expectancy and rose of the fair state, The glass of fashion and the mould of form, The observed of all observers, quite, quite down! And I, of ladies most deject and wretched, That suck'd the honey of his music vows, Now see that noble and most sovereign reason, Like sweet bells jangled, out of tune and harsh; That unmatch'd form and feature of blown youth Blasted with ecstasy: O, woe is me, To have seen what I have seen, see what I see!” (3.1.150-162) This monologue mainly focuses on Ophelia’s admiration for Hamlet which is conveyed through her images and highly complimentary language. However, for me, this is really the only scene where Ophelia can freely express herself and her feelings without fear of being judged by the men that surround her. Therefore, her true thoughts are revealed to the audience and we are able to discern and understand what her emotions are. I really enjoyed this particular scene because Shakespeare defines Ophelia's personality within it. By having Ophelia focused on praising Hamlet, Shakespeare defines her as a woman that is loyal to her lover no matter what he has said to her. Normally, I would disparage this sort of idea because of how cliche it sounds. However, in this case, it seems fitting for Ophelia's some-what innocent personality. As proven by her actions (in regards to her desire to be with Hamlet), she is not innocent. Yey, she seems to be in that awkward phase where she doesn't quite know what is right and what is wrong. Therefore, this loyalty to Hamlet is fitting because she is blindly following in his footsteps and constantly supports him since he is her object of affection. In other words, Hamlet is the bad boy that your parents really don't want you to date, but you decide to date him anyways because you're "growing up" and "know better" (don't worry y'all, this is not from personal experience). For me, I almost pity Ophelia because of her loyalty to Hamlet. She has just been harshly dumped, but she still defends Hamlet. As her monologue progresses, she becomes increasingly lamentable (proven by using words such as "deject" "wretched"). In addition to certain words that add a sense of lament, Ophelia states "That unmatch'd form and feature of blown youth/Blasted with ecstasy", which means that Hamlet's unmatched appearance and nobility were ruined by his madness. I might be going a little off the rail on this point. But I see this scene is a sort of foreshadowing of Ophelia's madness. In her final line, she says "To have seen what I have seen, see what I see", this line refers to Hamlet's transformation from relatively normal to mad man. After reading the play, this is the last real scene where Ophelia expresses herself before she goes mad. To me this scene sets up a sort of parallel between Hamlet's madness and Ophelia's madness, which then lends itself to a comparison between the two. Overall, I like Ophelia more as a character because of this scene where Shakespeare allows her to convey her thoughts. As for being a powerful woman, I don't believe this scene would serve as great evidence because she praises Hamlet so frequently. Nevertheless, this passage could serve as evidence for Ophelia's love for Hamlet, which combined with the death of her father, drives her to insanity.